Wow. I never would have believed there was anything Kishimoto could have done at this stage to make this series interesting to me again- but that's because I never would have guessed that he'd ever bring back Orochimaru (STILL the only antagonist in this series I've ever truly respected). After he killed him off -twice!- in such a pussy manner (first beaten crapless by Sasuke, then sealed away "permanently" by Itachi) I'd assumed that Kisihimoto had simply shoved him out of the way to make room for Akatsuki while making the Uchiha brothers looks that much more awesome. Maybe I underestimated him.

Then again, there's something weird about this Orochimaru. Apart from the fact that he's quite simply being DRAWN differently (it's hard to put my finger on it, but I think it's the lines around his eyes and the shape of his nose) he just doesn't quite FEEL like Orochimaru. You could write it off as him being too obviously wary of Sasuke, but he's not acting like he used to- the smug, menacing feeling that it's only his whim preventing him from killing you that made him so chilling earlier is missing and his declaration that he simply doesn't CARE about the Shinobi World War just feels incredibly wrong somehow. It's like he's not half the monster he was before, almost a 'lighter and softer' version. Still, I really can't wait to see what Kishimoto has planned for him- I still don't give a flying proverbial about SASUKE, but I want to hope that Orochimaru still has more to contribute to this series than some exposition about how awesome the Uchiha are.

Ok.. so Orochi now officially = Voldermort. Does the ninja logic make sense to how he was revived? Hell yes, its common knowledge that the curse seal held some of his soul/consciousness (at least Sasuke's), but its not the mechanics of his return thats weaksauce but the though of shamelessly using him to flesh out an already cliche Uchiha Master Race parallel. We are already seeing signs of this by the way Orochi immediately submits himself. I love Orochi as much as the next guy but this revivial just seems overly forced just to make Sasuke shine once again. The further down the rabbit hole we go about sasuke the more retarded his notions of vengeance, and his complete lack of reasoning, make him seem.

Ok.. so Orochi now officially = Voldermort. Does the ninja logic make sense to how he was revived? Hell yes, its common knowledge that the curse seal held some of his soul/consciousness (at least Sasuke's), but its not the mechanics of his return thats weaksauce but the though of shamelessly using him to flesh out an already cliche Uchiha Master Race parallel. We are already seeing signs of this by the way Orochi immediately submits himself. I love Orochi as much as the next guy but this revivial just seems overly forced just to make Sasuke shine once again. The further down the rabbit hole we go about sasuke the more retarded his notions of vengeance, and his complete lack of reasoning, make him seem.

Agreed!

I had to take in this chapter with a significant grain of salt to accept any of this. I really appreciated Orochimaru as a villain because he was both a sizable and a very personal threat to several of the story's ensemble and the subtle machinations involved in his characterization betrayed a remarkable depth to his motivations as a villain. Yea, it would've been nice to know a bit about his past, but it wasn't essential because he was genuine and consistent, almost throughout; unlike what's become of Madara, Kabuto, and Pein. The ways he was killed off felt INCREDIBLY cheap, but seeing him come back like this is, imho, strike three in what I can only guess will be a long line of muck-crawling misses.

The curse seal can fully revive?! Shenanigans. I honestly thought that maybe this Oro was some sort of consciousness, given corporeal form through an association with cursed flesh, but I don't think that's the case anymore!

Sasuke understands the subtleties of ninjutsu so much so that he's able to utilize a reverse seal technique whose reciprocal he remembers from 3-4 years ago when he was barely conscious from the pain? Furthermore...The curse seal can fully revive?! Shenanigans

I can just barely accept this team up, though a sense of grudging urgency about it would've gone a LONG way.

Read this twice and glad I did. This chapter left something to be desired. Siegetsu is acting like a bitch and Sasuke is getting all philosophical on a brother. Now back in the day when Naruto was acting like this every forum on earth was slamming him for being a soft. Now the mighty Taka is acting the same way no one is saying anything. WTF. At first I didn't agree with Black Flash about Orochi coming back, but I'm leaning in that direction. I'll see how this pans out.

Looks like they will be meeting multiple people. So I am curious about that.

First off. Why does Suigetsu keep going on about Oro's arms being sealed when Sasuke fought him? Oro fixed that with the body switch and had full use of his arms and jutsu during that time. As for the revival. It looks more like a similar usage to that of edo tensei. Using flesh and a piece of Oro's soul to revive him but more likened to his rebirth jutsu. Then we have the issue of him sealing nature chakra into the seals. Oro never managed to find the white snake sage to train him. But he was still able to use it like that but not for himself? The whole thing is wrong. As for the scroll. It clearly has something to do with seeing the past or speaking to the dead. Maybe it has to do with traveling to the pure world itself.
On a lighter note. Kabuto is back to normal and everyone seems content with leaving him alone.
So i am going to predict he will wake up from Izanami and go on to lead some normal happy life in the epilouge.

I wish death would just stick. What are the consequences of violence when the main characters can be brought back in a couple of pages. Orochimaru is my favorite antagonist because back when he was the main threat, things just seemed consequential, ergo death was definitive. Now it just seems like a gimmick. There seem to be no rules in the world of Naruto anymore. Maybe there never were and back then I was just ignorant of this. There should be more of an effort to advance the story in an interesting way then to just retcon it and deus ex machina it.